Like a Drunk, But Not

Drunken, and not with wine.
-Isaiah

Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drinking largely sobers us again.
-Alexander Pope

Like a drunk, but not.
-Regina Spektor

Why do we allow, or rather, desire our minds and souls to get fuzzy, blanketed over, and disintegrated? Not physically with alcohol (though it is very similar), but by the way we live and think everyday. We don't want to care about anything truly important because that would mean we would have to feel responsible. We would have to expect more out of ourselves and then we couldn't be content and pleased with our own mediocrity. And so we drain the metaphorical cup. We make ourselves mentally drunk to forget, to let loose our baser desires, and to be happy with ourselves.

Half or Whole?

I have heard the comment "he/she is my other half" many times. It seems as if girls grow up to be a half, waiting and living to be completed by her "other half." She is not complete without her man. I have seen girls with no other goals than to get married and have kids. I am not saying that these are wrong goals (in fact, these are possibly the best goals). However, if one thinks this way, she will not try to ever be more than a half. The other half is underdeveloped or decayed. Why should I then be surprised at unhealthy relationships and divorces when girls (and guys) are just so desperate to complete themselves via someone else. Wouldn't a better alternative be to develop yourself as a whole; have your own goals and ambitions, your own talents and opinions and then find another whole person with these things too? At least it would be much more interesting. Yes, it may be hard to find a whole person with all of these halfs wandering around, but wouldn't it be worth it? Each of us have a choice: be a half and live to be completed by another half (what if the half don't fit?) or to become a whole person and join with another whole person to love and respect forever (may I go as far as to say that you must love and respect yourself first?).

Isn't two better than one?

The Country of the Blind

"In the country of the blind the one-eyed man is king."
-Erasmus

But what if all of the one-eyed man's friends and family expected him to be blind too?

And what if a man with one eye (or even two good working eyes) grows up with the blind ways of life? What if it would be more comfortable for him to be like everyone else? What if no one believes that he can see? What if they don't even know what sight is? Would the man lead the people? Helping and improving their way of life? Would he become their king?

Or would he, perhaps, just decide to close his eyes?

The Lesson of the Guitar

When I was 13 years old I asked for a guitar for christmas. My plan was to teach myself how to play (its been done, why cant I?) The only problem was that I expected to learn how to really play just from randomly plucking the strings. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I thought "surely I will become good at it if I put in enough time with my guitar." I didn't understand that when someone teaches themself, they at least look up different chords and how to play. They have a book, or look on the internet or something. It takes more than just time and a guitar, it takes knowledge and actual effort.

I find myself relating a lot of things in life to this experience with the guitar. Just because you spend a lot of time with a person hanging out, it doesn't mean you automatically have a strong tie to them. Just because you have been working in a certain industry for a long time, you aren't necessarily better at it than someone else. Time is very subjective. This all sounds obvious, but society generally views situations more like I did with the guitar when I was 13. People respect your friendship more if you tell people you have known each other from childhood. Teachers get paid more the longer they work for a school. But I could be better friends with a person that I met last week than someone I've known my whole life. Sometimes a nineteen year old girl would make a better teacher than Mrs. Johnson who has been teaching for fifty years. And sometimes its better to sell a guitar at a garage sale for ten dollars after five years of never being able to play.